Author
Darcy Pattison is an Arkansas children’s book author and writing teacher. In 1999, she created the Novel Revision Retreat, which she now teaches across the nation. Translated into eight languages, her four picture books and one middle grade novel (listed below), have been recognized for excellence by starred reviews, Book of the Year awards, state award lists and more. She is the 2007 recipient of the Arkansas Governor’s Arts Award for Individual Artist for her work in children’s literature.
Contact: darcy at darcypattison dot com.
Publicity Photos
Interview about Oliver K. Woodman
Q: What inspired you to create Oliver K. Woodman and to send him on a cross-country journey?
A: I saw a newspaper article about a wooden man in Colorado who toured a couple of states. I thought that a traveling wooden man could make a great children’s book, but nothing I did worked. I thought about it for seven years, until I read another book that was done in letters. When I realized this format would work, I sat down and wrote the book in one afternoon. I took out a map of the United States, started on the East Coast, and didn’t stop until Oliver was in California.
Q: This book is a great geography tool that covers states and regions across the United States from South Carolina to California. It includes addresses, city names, zip codes, and different types of folks encountered along the way. What do you think children will learn from reading Oliver K. Woodman?
A: I hope children will get a sense of the diversity and the breadth of the United States. The double-page spreads with just landscapes give this book a larger feel, like you really are crossing the nation. Oliver meets a wide range of people in terms of ethnic groups, professions, and ages. He participates in private rituals such as afternoon tea, and public events like a Fourth of July parade. This is America in all her glory and grandeur: Our unity in diversity is our strength.
Q: It’s interesting that in the middle of the book Oliver disappears for more than twenty days—and everyone is worried about him. Why did you throw this kink into the storyline? Was it to generate curiosity in children?
A: This is in the story because Oliver refuses to tell me where he was for those missing days. He keeps secrets even from me.
Q: What is your impression of the style and color schemes chosen by illustrator Joe Cepeda? Does Oliver match the character you envisioned when writing the story? Or did you provide Joe with guidelines for Oliver’s portrayal in the book?
A: Picture books truly are a collaboration of words and text, and I’m comfortable letting go of the words and waiting to see what results. Joe’s color palette is eye-popping, wonderful. Blue skies, green skies, pink skies, orange skies. I love the layers of paint that allow bits to show through from underneath. For example, Tameka’s pink house with the streaks of green showing through is breathtaking.
Joe’s vision of Oliver far exceeded mine-but that’s always true when a professional artist takes charge of my words. His visual characterization of Oliver is stunning: Oliver has no mouth, yet you would swear that he’s smiling at us. The addition of joints make Oliver more expressive than my idea of a plywood man.
Finally, Joe’s landscapes evoke the wonder experienced when crossing our nation. It’s not often a picture book artist has the opportunity to paint such landscapes, but Joe does a superb job of using the picture book format to evoke space and light as well as any classic landscape artist would. And he does it all with a dash of humor, while still moving the story ahead. He’s an amazing talent.
Q: Uncle Ray and Tameka love each other, and Uncle Ray sends that love in the guise of Oliver K. Woodman to make up for not seeing her in person. After Oliver finally arrives in California, Tameka is thrilled to find out that a trip to see Uncle Ray is possible after all. Who’s more excited? Tameka, Uncle Ray, or Oliver himself?
A: Oliver crosses the entire nation with the mission of connecting a family. In the end, it’s the entire family—Oliver included—that wins. The last picture of the book, when everyone is looking at postcards of Oliver’s trip, is a family united by love.
Q: What advice do you have for parents to help their kids get the most out of The Journey of Oliver K. Woodman?
A: When I go to schools, this is the inevitable question: Is Oliver real? I answer, “Of course!” Within the pages of a book, all characters live. We want children to have healthy imaginations, because imagination expands their concept of the world. As a person with deeply held religious beliefs, I think this is very important. If the only reality is what we can see with our eyes and touch with our hands, then there is no possibility of God, who must be accepted on faith.
To help kids get the most from reading Oliver’s story, play the game that all literature plays. Let them believe that Oliver is real. I grew up reading Johnny Gruelle’s stories of the adventures of Raggedy Ann and Andy, who escaped from the nursery at night to have fantastic adventures. Like the Velveteen Rabbit, Oliver is real to me.
Listen to the voice of each letter and have fun making your reading sound like that character. Take time to look at the visual feast that Joe Cepeda has provided: Look at the license plates and the postcard stamps; look at the blank map in the front and the marked map at the end. Talk about trips your family has taken to different states. Spend time letting this family story become your family’s story.
